63 legacy of reconstruction presentation notes 2016-17...

63 Legacy of Reconstruction Presentation Notes 201617.notebook

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Group Tasks

Spirit 505506, 519520, 505506, & Handout A• Explain the impact of Reconstruction on the citizens of the United States. How have blacks and whites viewed the legacy of the era?


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" . . . states in both the North and the South soon devised a variety of ways to deprive blacks of the vote, including redistricting, changing polling laces, and requiring payment of a poll tax. then in 1875, the Supreme Court ruled that the 15th Amendment did not guarantee the right to vote, only that no citizen could be discriminated against as the polls because of race." William Gillette

"The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous servitude." 15th Amendment, 1870


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Compromise of 1877

Republican Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio vs. Democratic Gov. S. J. Tilden of New York

Deal Democrats promised to vote for Hayes if Democrats will regain control of government jobs in South and troops will bewithdrawn.

• “The Redeemers were conservative, probusiness wing” of the Democratic party. They cut back spending for public education and passed poll taxes, literacy tests, and residency requirements for voting.

• Between 1900 and 1903, black voter registration in Alabama fell from 181,315 to 2,980. White registration fell by more than 40,000.


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To what extent did radical reconstruction transform the United States?

Black Legislators• In many Southern states freedmen were elected to local and state legislatures• A debate ensued challenging their credibility and ability to serve the public• Many important bills were passed in their legislatures• Most recent research shows that while there was corruption among the black legislators, no more and possibly less than among the white legislators. • Until recently, the historical legacy was that the black legislatures and Reconstruction were abysmal failures.

KKK Act of 1871• Congress began a series of hearings which prosecuted KKK leaders. The Federal courts and enforcement by the army destroyed the terrorist KKK for a period of time.

Important changes during Reconstruction• Public education, for the first time, is introduced in the South. Money given to the development of public education for both black and white, though the education was segregated (black legislators felt white legislators would not support integrated education).• Money for historically black colleges.• Blacks in local and state legislatures.• Plantations became dominated by tenant farmers (sharecroppers).• A large number of blacks moved to southern cities and away from the farms.

Compromise of 1877• The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction. The Democrats accepted a questionable election of the Republican Hayes for president. In return, the Republican congress withdrew Federal troops from the South. 1. Many of the older, more committed radical Republicans had retired or died.2. The Panic of 1873 put race relations on the backburner and greatly contributed to the loss of will to continue Reconstruction.

Legacy of Reconstruction• Reconstruction succeeded in reuniting the nation, but failed in uniting its people behind racial unity and equality.• A number of black institutions; families, churches, schools, political and community organizations, developed and would continue to play the leading role in the fight for black equality into the middle and late 20th Century.

63 legacy of reconstruction presentation notes 2016-17...

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